Hacker News Reader

Comment by jamestanderson | Hacker News Reader

I just hate the feeling that we're moving towards a world where you can't go anywhere without being sold something or having your thoughts manipulated by a carefully crafted advertising campaign. I can control to some extent what I see online, not so much in the "real world".

View on HN

Maybe in the future we’ll have to wear glasses with ad blocking software installed :)

I wouldn’t mind having a pair of those right now actually.

> you can't go anywhere without being sold something

Hmm, that's so different from what the purpose of a grocery store is supposed to be right?

Aren't they different, though? When I go into a grocery store, the deal is, they put out a selection of things, I pick the ones I want, then I go home. This is actively trying to manipulate me personally into buying something that is not one of my original desires.

I mean, I guess grocery stores already do this in some ways, in choosing what to feature... they do effectively 'advertise' certain products. But this seems more like it's trying to manipulate my behaviours, rather than trying to fulfill my desires as well as possible. I'm not sure how different it is... but it feels a lot different to me.

A grocery store already manipulates consumers though, e.g. they put the milk at the very back so you have to walk through the store which increases the chances you'll buy something else.

Right, this is what I was alluding to with 'choosing what to feature'. But I honestly am not sure whether a line should be drawn here, and if it should, where it should be drawn. I know that one feels distinctly creepier than the other, though, so I'm sort of hoping someone chimes in and can clarify my thoughts better than I can :)

They also place things up high on shelves, or down low - depending on what the item is, what the manufacturer or reseller has purchased in space, who it is marketed to (for instance, certain cereals are placed lower for kids to see).

Part of this is why I prefer to shop at Business Costco for a lot of things. While I am sure a similar tactic is being done, it is being aimed at other businesses - and since I am not a business, it doesn't affect me as much (though it does confuse me why they place certain things side by side - but if you think about it like what businesses are looking for and the type of business - then the placements make more sense).

I don't even think it's possible to control it online. Take search results for example. The results returned are based on domain authority, keyword matching and links to that site from other sites (+ a bunch of other factors).

It shouldn't come as any surprise then that the content served up will be half-hearted blog posts from corporations and start ups done solely for lead generation. Plus there are those shysters that use keyword-stuffed titles to rank well, like "Ultimate beginner's guide to Amazon AWS (2019)".

I'm not even going to mention Youtube's recommendation pane because I have no idea how they linked my video views of music tracks and sports highlights to recommend a 1 hour Jordan Peterson lecture or an "ultimate feminist cringe compilation".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com